Liverpool missed out on the chance to move up to sixth in the Premier League table after they were held to a 0-0 draw by Tottenham Hotspur at Anfield.

Not even the return of Luis Suarez was enough to stop the Reds sharing the points on their own turf for an eighth time in 12 league games this season.

The stalemate means that Liverpool remain in seventh place, where they are now one point behind Arsenal. Tottenham remain in third following their first goalless draw of the season, five points behind Manchester United and seven short of leaders Manchester City.

Ghana are through to the semi finals of the African Cup of Nations after creeping past Tunisia 2-1 in extra time after a bad-tempered match at the Stade de Franceville.

It was a tight and often cynical match, and the winning goal came courtesy of an awful error from Tunisia goalkeeper Aymen Mathlouthi, spilling the ball to Andre Ayew.

Ghana opened the scoring early on through John Mensah, but Tunisia levelled when Saber Khelifa headed in a Zouhaier Dhoauadi cross shortly before half time.

Victory means Ghana will now meet Zambia in the semi-finals.

Mali eliminated African Nations Cup co-hosts Gabon 5-4 penalties in their quarter-final after the two sides had played out a 1-1 draw in Libreville.

Seydou Keita scored the decisive kick after Gabon’s talisman Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang had his effort saved, the only player to fail in the nail-biting shootout.

The shock loss for Gabon, who were just six minutes from success, left some 40,000 at the new stadium in the capital silent while Mali celebrated unlikely progress.

They now meet the highly-fancied Ivory Coast in the semi-final in Libreville on Wednesday.

Marseille and Lyon both missed the chance to move firmly into the Ligue 1 title race as they battled out a 2-2 draw at the Stade Velodrome.

With Paris St Germain sitting pretty on 49 points in first place, a win for Marseille would have put them to within nine points and a victory for Lyon would have put them eight behind.

But after scoring twice each in an enthralling first half – Benoit Cheyrou and Evanilson Brandao put Marseille ahead before Bafetimbi Gomis and a Souleymane Diawara own goal levelled things up – neither side was able to take all three points.

Valencia missed the chance to tighten their grip on third place in La Liga as they were held to a goalless draw by Atletico Madrid at the Estadio Vicente Calderon.

After a cagey first-half, Radamel Falcao came closest to breaking the deadlock for Atletico – but his shot was cleared off the line by Adil Rami.

It was a scrappy affair for long periods, but Valencia could have sneaked a winning goal late on had Jordi Alba not dragged his shot just wide of the post.

But these were rare flashpoints in a game that, having been billed as a showdown between each side’s star striker – Falcao and Roberto Soldado – was disappointingly low on goalmouth action.

But that will only be a minor concern to new Atletico coach Diego Simeone, who has now overseen five consecutive clean sheets since taking over from Gregorio Manzano in December.

Manchester United came from three goals down to draw 3-3 at Chelsea in a pulsating Premier League match at Stamford Bridge.

Second-half strikes from Juan Mata and David Luiz added to a first-half own-goal by Jonny Evans to bring up a 3-0 scoreline that flattered the hosts somewhat.

But United raised their game and, spearheaded by Wayne Rooney – who netted two penalties – they drew level thanks to a late Javier Hernandez header.

David De Gea made an incredible late save to deny Mata’s wonderful free-kick, with the Spaniard tipping over a Gary Cahill effort at the death as the spoils were shared in West London.

The result means United are two points behind leaders Manchester City, while fourth-placed Chelsea edge a point ahead of Newcastle United, who beat Aston Villa earlier on Sunday.

Papiss Demba Cisse had a dream debut as his goal gave Newcastle United a 2-1 win at home to Aston Villa, putting his side fifth in the Premier League.

Cisse, signed from Freiburg in January but unavailable until now because of the African Cup of Nations, rifled in an expert half-volley with 18 minutes left to add to Senegal team-mate Demba Ba’s opener, which had been cancelled out by Robbie Keane’s 150th goal in English football.

The result sees Toon move above Arsenal into fifth, behind Chellsea only on goal difference: Alan Pardew’s men will hope that Manchester United get a positive result at Stamford Bridge as the Magpies chase an unlikely Champions League place.

1-0

1-1

2-1

Barcelona were not at their brilliant best but still did enough to see off Real Sociedad 2-1 in their Liga clash at Camp Nou.

Manager Pep Guardiola, with an eye on injuries and perhaps the midweek Copa del Rey semi-final second leg against Valencia, fielded a young midfield including Jonathon Dos Santos, Cristian Tello, Thiago Alcantara and Cesc Fabregas.

But the decision appeared to be vindicated when Barcelona struck early against their struggling opponents through Tello’s cool ninth-minute finish.

Barcelona created a surfeit of chances only to waste them, with Lionel Messi particularly culpable.

The second goal did not come despite the typical domination of possession, and Sociedad began to press forward in the hopes of snatching an equaliser.

That looked to be beyond them when Messi finally did score with a deft finish from Dani Alves’s cross after 72 minutes – only for Carlos Vela, on loan from Arsenal, to immediately pull one back at the other end.

It set up a tense finale, but Barcelona held on to claim all three points and close back to within seven points of league leaders Real Madrid, who had earlier ground out a 1-0 victory away at Getafe.

Sergio Ramos’ headed goal secured Real Madrid a 1-0 win in a scrappy Liga encounter against Getafe at the Coliseum Alfonso Perez.

The game took place in fierce wind, and despite the high quality of the Real line-up, free-flowing football was rare.

Ramos’s 18th-minute goal separated the sides, and though Getafe were only ever a moment of inspiration away from victory, they scarcely threatened.

That said, they were unlucky that a Pepe handball from Diego Castro’s long-range shot was not spotted late on to give them a chance of equalising from the penalty spot.

Real went into the game knowing that victory would give them, at least briefly, a 10-point lead over Barcelona at the top of La Liga.

Zambia reached the last four of the African Cup of Nations for the first time since 1996 with a comfortable 3-0 quarter-final win against Sudan in Bata.

Stophira Sunzu put the Zambians into a first-half lead before a rash Saideldin Ali Idris Farah challenge on the game’s stand-out player Rainford Kalaba in the box earned him a second yellow card and a penalty for Zambia.

Captain Christopher Katongo’s spot-kick was saved by Akram El Hadi, only for the ball to fall for Katongo to knock in the rebound, and it was then left to substitute James Chamanga to put gloss on the result with a curling finish moments from the final whistle.

Zambia, top of a group featuring Senegal and co-hosts Equatorial Guinea, and Sudan, who squeezed past Angola team in the tightly-contested Group B, had earned reputations as two of the most creative forces in the tournament thus far.